Trouble Boards Carnival Corp. As Another Ship Breaks Down

A Probe Is Under Way. But Some Say Explosive Growth Is Behind The String Of Accidents.

February 20, 2000|By Richard Verrier of The Sentinel Staff

When engine problems forced Carnival Cruise Lines' Paradise to divert its millennium cruise from the Caribbean to the Bahamas, Patricia Creech and other passengers were livid.

They had paid premium prices to see the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico but ended up in the Bahamas while Carnival worked on the engines.

``This was our honeymoon cruise,'' said Creech, a 30-year-old accountant who lives near Sacramento, Calif. ``It was a bad experience.''

So much so that Creech and other Carnival guests launched a Web site on the Internet to vent their frustrations.

Now Carnival faces a new batch of angry customers, thanks to last week's electrical malfunction aboard the cruise ship Destiny, which left more than 4,000 passengers and crew stranded off the Turks and Caicos Islands for more than a day. The ship returned to Miami on Friday after a disabled propulsion system was partially repaired.

The mishap was just the latest in a series of problems for Miami-based Carnival, which has had three fires on board its ships in the past two years. Federal officials have taken notice of that and more.

``We are aware that Carnival has had a string of incidents, but we are concerned with cruise ship safety overall, not just Carnival,'' said Lauren Peduzzi, spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board.

What's behind the rash of cruise ship incidents?

Federal inspectors aren't certain, but said they will investigate Carnival's maintenance practices.

Many experts say more accidents are occurring because the industry has mushroomed in recent decades to feed a seemingly insatiable demand for ocean getaways.

Cruise lines are building ever bigger and more elaborate ships - floating resorts with electrical systems that are more prone to breakdown than those on ocean liners of yesteryear.

Unfortunately for cruisers, that means ship accidents and breakdowns aren't likely to abate.

``I don't think there is any question that you're going to have more frequency of these kinds of things, because there is a lot more mechanically to go wrong,'' said Tim Gallagher, a Carnival spokesman. ``A cruise ship is a very large, complex machine. They are far, far more sophisticated than any commercial jetliner.''

The Destiny was on its way to San Juan, Puerto Rico, early Tuesday when one of two cycloconverters malfunctioned. Cycloconverters transmit electricity from a ship's diesel engines to a propulsion motor that moves the ship through the water. As ship engineers attempted to diagnose the problem, the second converter went down. One unit was repaired the next day.

Built in 1996 in Italy, the Destiny is Carnival's second-largest ship.

Carnival is giving the passengers full refunds, including air fare, as well as a 50 percent discount on future cruises.

``They're obviously disappointed, and we're disappointed that we weren't able to deliver the fun cruise ship experience for them,'' Gallagher said.

One month earlier, a fire broke out aboard the vessel Celebration, leaving it adrift for six hours near Jamaica. In September, an engine-room fire left Carnival's Tropicale temporarily stranded in the Gulf of Mexico as Tropical Storm Harvey loomed. And in July 1998, a fire erupted aboard the liner Ecstasy as it left the Port of Miami, sending dozens of passengers to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.

Such incidents have brought a torrent of consumer complaints. PassengerRights.com, a Maitland-based Web clearinghouse for travel-related complaints, has logged 226 safety-related complaints about cruise ships since the site debuted last April. Of those, 95 involved Carnival ships. Royal Caribbean had 34 complaints, Princess Cruises had 23.

Carnival Corp., which operates 45 ships, would be expected to attract more complaints because it is the world's biggest cruise line.

Gallagher said there does not appear to be a common thread running through the accidents and mishaps. ``Nobody wants to know more than we do what caused this to happen,'' he said.

A team of inspectors from the U.S. Coast Guard and the NTSB met the Destiny when it arrived in port Friday to investigate the cause of the malfunction.

The NTSB a few years ago criticized the Coast Guard for lax enforcement of fire-safety regulations. The Coast Guard conducts quarterly inspections of ships.

William J. Uberti, executive officer of the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office in Miami, said his office conducts rigorous inspections. ``That criticism is unwarranted,'' he said.

The Coast Guard may step up its inspections of Carnival ships, Uberti said, if its latest investigation determines that Carnival has not properly maintained its equipment.

He noted that all of Destiny's safety systems functioned properly.

Experts say accidents are more frequent because cruises are more frequent.